1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact programmable ROM having a new structure and a method of manufacturing the same. The contact programmable ROM refers to a ROM (read only memory) in which whether a contact hole is electrically connected to an interconnecting layer or not corresponds to whether information exists or not.
2. Description of Related Art
ROM is a type of nonvolatile memory cell. The structure of memory cell of a mask ROM does not require any special semiconductor device manufacturing process in manufacturing, therefore mask ROM is advantageous in process economy, and no requirement of writing operation allows a simplified circuit structure as a whole, therefore it is advantageous for realizing of large-capacity memory. However, mask ROM is disadvantageous due to long turn around time (time for delivery from a semiconductor manufacturer to a user) comparing with EPROM. Diffusion layer programming, ion implantation, and contact programming are types of ROM manufacturing process, among these processes, contact programming is a process in which a programming process is provided near the final process of semiconductor device manufacturing process, the contact programming system is a process which can realize the shortest TAT.
A plane view and an equivalent circuit of a contact programmable ROM which are formed when projected on a plane are shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. In a contact programmable ROM, information is stored in a memory depending on whether one source/drain region is connected to bit lines or not. That is, in a situation that one source/drain region is connected to a bit line, when a transistor of a memory cell is turned on, charge on a bit line discharges to read a "0" level information. On the other hand, in a situation that one source/drain region is not connected to a bit line, when a transistor of a memory cell is turned on, charge on a bit line is held to read a "1" level information. Another source/drain region of each memory is connected to common Vss (GND).
The outline of a manufacturing process of conventional contact programmable ROM is described referring to schematic fragmentary sectional views of semiconductor substrate shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, and 4B. In addition, a flow chart for illustrating conventional contact programmable ROM manufacturing process is shown in FIG. 5.
Process-10
First, a memory cell is manufactured prior to programming process. On a semiconductor substrate 10, a plurality of memory cells comprising a gate region 14 and source/drain regions 15A and 15B are formed. To form the plurality of memory cells, an element separation region 11 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 10, subsequently, a gate oxide film 12 comprising SiO.sub.2 is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate. Then, a polysilicon layer 13 is formed over the whole surface, the polysilicon layer 13 is patterned to form a gate region 14 comprising a gate oxide film 12 and polysilicon layer 13. Next, on the region where source/drain regions are to be formed, an impurity is injected by ion implantation technique, the injected impurity is activated to form source/drain region 15A and 15B. As described herein above, source/drain regions 15A and 15B are formed. FIG. 3 shows two drain regions 15A and 15B of two memory cells, and the drain region 15B is common to both the memory cells. Usually, BPSG is used as an interlayer insulating layer, but BPSG is deteriorated with time significantly. Memory cells are stored for relatively long time before programming process, therefore, usually an insulating film 16 is formed over the whole surface (refer to FIG. 3A) without forming an interlayer insulating layer.
When a program is assigned and various photomask are completed, the manufacturing of contact programmable ROM restarts. TAT in the manufacturing of conventional contact programmable ROM starts at the time.
Process-20
First, an interlayer insulating layer 30 comprising BPSG is formed over the whole surface. Then, an opening 31 is formed on the interlayer insulating layer 30 above the one source/drain region 15A of a specified memory cell (refer to FIG. 3B). In the conventional contact programmable ROM, one source/drain region 15A of a memory cell which is to hold "0" level information is connected to a bit line. On the other hand, one source/drain region 15A of a memory cell which is to hold "1" level information is not connected to a bit line. Therefore, a specified memory cell herein refers to a memory cell which is to hold "0" level information.
Process-30
With recent progress of minimization, the diameter of contact hole becomes smaller. Therefore, a technique to fill consistently the internal of an opening, which is provided on the interlayer insulating layer, with metal interconnect material is the very important technical subject. Blanket tungsten CVD is one of the methods for consistent filling. In this method, tungsten is deposited by thermal CVD on the interlayer insulating layer 30 including the internal of the opening 31. Next, the tungsten deposited on the interlayer insulating layer 30 is removed selectively by etching back technique. Thereby, a metal interconnect material 32 comprising tungsten is filled in the opening 31 and a contact hole is completed (refer to FIG. 4A).
Process-40
Then, on the contact hole and interlayer insulating layer 30, for example, aluminum alloy is deposited by spattering, and the aluminum alloy layer is patterned by photolithographing and dry etching to form an interconnecting layer (refer to FIG. 4B).
In a contact programmable ROM, a gate region 14 of each memory cell is connected electrically to gate regions 14 of adjacent memory cells to form a word line. In FIG. 4, the gate region 14 is connected to gate regions of adjacent memory cells located in the perpendicular direction to the paper plane. More in detail, gate regions 14 are integrated by connecting a plurality of memory cells. Another source/drain region 15B of each memory cell is connected electrically to another source/drain regions 15B of adjacent memory cells. In FIG. 4, another source/drain region 15B is connected electrically to another source/drain regions of adjacent memory cells located in the perpendicular direction to the paper plane. More in detail, another source/drain regions 15B are integrated by connecting a plurality of memory cells. Another source/drain regions 15B are connected to Vss (GND), and the interconnecting layer 33 is equivalent to a bit line.
In the conventional manufacturing of contact programmable ROM, TAT starts from forming of contact hole described in the Process-20. As described in the Process-20, filling of opening with metal interconnect material (forming of contact hole, Process-20), which is relatively difficult process) is included in the process which relates directly to TAT of contact programmable ROM, the inclusion prevents TAT from shortening. In addition, because the number of openings to be provided should be changed depending on the program, it is difficult to stabilize the forming of contact holes.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing contact programmable ROM in which TAT is shortened and a contact hole is formed stably, and to provide a contact programmable ROM manufactured by this manufacturing method.